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I know, you've heard every trick in the book regarding teacher burnout. The truth is: there is no magic pill or instant trick to beat it. Avoiding teacher burnout involves a series of purposeful decisions. Below are some tips that help me avoid feeling like I want to quit every five minutes.  ARRIVE EARLY OR STAY LATE IN MODERATION Are you a morning person? If so, this tip is for YOU. Get to work an hour earlier than you're required to. You're less likely to get interrupted as you work, and you will eliminate the guilt of (gasp) leaving … [Read more...] about Teacher Burnout

I'll start this post by saying that I'm obviously not a fan of standardized testing. We live in a world where a student and a teacher are both evaluated by a performance on a state test. It's unfortunate. And sadly, we can't afford to ignore it because there's just too much at stake. Nevertheless, this post is not meant to convince you to "drill and kill" with passages everyday, all day. I'm here to tell you that there's a micro solution to this. In fact, I think I have found a healthy balance between organic teaching and test prep. It's … [Read more...] about Teaching for Testing

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I LOVE teaching writing, but let me be honest and say that I only became comfortable with it when I was put in a 3-way split (reading, writing and math), and I became the writing teacher for the entire fourth grade class. Yikes! It was a shock to see the lack of writing skills these students possessed. This is NOT a reflection of the teacher they had before me, but it did allow me to see a flaw in the way we were approaching the act of teaching writing. My goal in this post is to break down the ways … [Read more...] about Writing in Three (3)

Q: What happens after a student gets pulled for small group? A: They go off and practice on their own. Q: How can I make sure they remembered what I just taught them? A: You give them a takeaway! If you're confused by the term "takeaway," then let me just say that you're in for a treat! I LOVE the idea of takeaways for two reasons. First, it gives students something to use as a reference once they get back to their desks and independently work. And second, it serves as documentation for you. Before going further into the purpose of a takeaway … [Read more...] about Takeaways After Small Groups

The beginning of the school year is often the most exciting time of the year! Teachers are buying classroom decor and gearing up to welcome their students on the first day of school. One of the things I notice about teachers (myself included) is how often we forget to incorporate the curriculum when finalizing our classroom layout and supplies. Sometimes we're so busy that we forget to think about the most important things, but it's OK, it happens! In this post, I'm going to discuss some of the steps you can take to set up and achieve a … [Read more...] about A Balanced Literacy Classroom

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past three years, chances are you've heard of Jennifer Serravallo's strategies books. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but it took me a while to get into the JS craze. I remember thinking, "they're probably not for me," because I mainly work with bilingual (Spanish speaking) students. Nonetheless, last spring I decided to place an Amazon order for both her reading and writing strategies books and...wow! Just WOW! I couldn't put them down! Why had I gone so long without Jennifer's sparkly, … [Read more...] about Reading and Writing Strategies by Jennifer Serravallo